In 1969, India started building a licensed version of the popular French Aérospatiale Alouette III. It was manufactured by HAL and named Chetak – after a warhorse belonging to the 16th century King Maharana Pratap. The name meant devotion, bravery and resistance to occupation.
At some point in the 1970s during a Republic Day parade, the Chetak was lifted into stardom. On January 26, soldiers marched along the Rajpath Boulevard, tanks rumbled by, and trucks carried performers showcasing all kinds of impressive stunts. There were few surprises until an unexpected guest appeared – a flying elephant.
It was one of the helicopters belonging to IAF Helicopter Unit No. 116. The entire body of the aircraft was covered in richly decorated textiles, complete with four hollow ‘legs’, two massive ‘ears’, a pair of ‘tusks’, and a massive ‘trunk’.
The ‘modification’ was done by one of IAF’s tailors by attaching pieces of fabric. Even the canopy was enclosed, leaving just narrow slits to see through, and the pilot would not dare to accelerate beyond 110 kilometers per hour (70 mph) for the fear of losing the decals and possibly damaging the machine.
These seem to be the only two photos online of these elephant helos, there are no others. Neither photo has the parade, neither has a crowd. Seems suspicious that in a parade of 10s of thousands of people with cameras, no other photo exists online that supports the story everyone has copied and pasted
even the Live History India website couldn't find a photo of the flying elephant Chetak. So, it's very very unlikely to be a real story of the Republic Day Parade. Theres a lot of bullshit online made to get traffic... sure, there's a photo, but, not when and where the story that accompanies it says it is.
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